Selected quad for the lemma: world_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	catholic_n	church_n	visible_a	3,605	5	9.5506	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B23662	The controversie about infants church-membership and baptism, epitomized in two treatises the first, shewing the certainty of the salvation of all dying infants, against the doctrine of the Pædo-baptists, who deny salvation to all infants that die unbaptized, either directly, or by the natural consequence of their arguments : the second, being a plain confutation of Mr. J.B. his second book of more than 60 queries, about infants church-membership and baptism, by a proportionable number of antiqueries : being an essay towards a more Christian accomodation between the Pædo-baptists, and the baptized believers, published for that happy end / by Thomas Grantham.	Grantham, Thomas, 1634-1692.; Grantham, Thomas, 1634-1692. Querist examined.	1680 (1680)	Wing G1529	50,899	65

Church-Membership And yet I do not at all doubt that Infant-Baptism will remain without any ground at all SECT II. And this I shall demonstrate by shewing That all Infants are in a visible state of Salvation and so of the Vniversal Church of God and cannot be put out of that blessed state till by their voluntary departure from God by choosing sinful ways they destroy themselves And here we will make our entrance by a passage out of Mr. Baxter himself who saith All Mankind is brought by Christ under a Covenant of Grace which is not vain nor repealed by God But as their abuse of the Grace of the Covenant may cast them out For as a Covenant of intire Nature was made with all Mankind in innocent Adam Mr. Baxter's more Reasons pag. 8. 6. so a Covenant of Grace was made with all Mankind in lapsed Adam Gen. 3. 15. in the promised Seed and renewed again with all Mankind in Noah Now this Doctrine being no more than plain truth we shall apply it to the case in hand by shewing First That this Covenant of Grace was a visible Church-Covenant 2. That it was made with all Mankind and takes place in their Infancy 3. That it was never repealed by God 4. That no Infant did ever abuse the Grace of this Covenant And therefore no Infant was ever cast out of this Covenant And then fifthly They all stand visible Members of the Catholick Church by virtue of this Covenant however their Parents do abuse or neglect it and hence it will follow no dying Infant is Damned but are all in a visible state of Salvation 1. That this Covenant of Grace first expressed Gen. 3. 15. was either a Church-Covenant or else there was no Church-Covenant in the World that we read of from Adam to Noah this being indeed all the Covenant that is named during these Times besides that Covenant of Intire Nature made before the Fall And that Covenant of Nature being broken by Adam and in him by all his Posterity it being not a Covenant of Grace could not justifie the Offenders in the ●ight of God There must therefore be some supervening Act of Grace or Mercy from God else Adam even whole Mankind who were then in his Loins must have stood under Condemnation for ever seeing no Man could by any means redeem his Brother nor give to God a Ransom for him It is the received Doctrine of Christians that the Visible Church began in Adam and that his Family was the Church wherefore the whole World being then the Church and that Church-Covenant being made with the whole World that was to proceed from Adam and this Covenant yet remaining it follows against all contradiction that whole Mankind considered as they come into the World in all the several Ages of it are in a visible state of Salvation and so of the Catholick Church of God But whereas many did Apostatize from the Grace of God's Covenant by corrupting his way Gen. 6. 12. It was necessary that they should be ejected and therefore was the Covenant accommodated and appropriated to those who had not sinned themselves out of it but still the Innocent must not be ejected with the Nocent for it is he only that sinneth whose Name shall be blotted out of the Book which God hath written Gen. 32. 32 33. And therefore neither the Method which God took with Noah in settling the Covenant of his Grace nor yet that Order which he observed with Abraham was exclusive of any Infant in the World as to the Grace of God in order to Eternal Life no more than the establishment of it by Christ in the Gospel in a far more excellent order for distinguishing the Precious from the Vile is in any wise exclusive of any dying Infant for of such is the Kingdom of God Nor can any Man shew either by Scripture or Reason that God will shut out all the dying Infants of wicked Men from Life and Salvation by Christ no nor so much as any one of them for we are sure that the Judgment of God is according to truth that the Judge of all the Earth will do right That the Condemned shall be judged according to the deeds done in the Body but alas as for poor Infants what have they done 2. That this Covenant was made with all Mankind is thus cleared because it was made with Adam without the least intimation of the exclusion of any part of his Posterity as they proceed from him to the end of the World neither hath God himself explained the Covenant of Grace to be Exclusive of any but for the cause of their own iniquity and this was evident first in the case of Cain who not being faithful in his offering was not accepted Yet God was pleased to shew him the cause Gen. 4. 7. If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted It should seem God never rejected him till this time neither did he now delight to reject him but graciously expostulates with Cain to convince him of his evil and assures him of acceptation if he did well If then Cain had an interest in the Grace of God who can we suppose to be shut out till they with Cain shut themselves out of it Evident it is that the Covenant of Grace extended to those Rebels in the Old World because we read the long suffering of God waited on them and he gave them time of Repentance and sent a Preacher of Righteousness even the Righteousness of Faith among them Heb. 11. 7. 2 Pet. 2. 5. therefore it is said Christ went by his Spirit and preached to them 1 Pet. 3. though none of them believed his Word Now such Acts on God's part are great Evidences of his Graciousness towards Men and shews that he remembers his Covenant made in Christ with them even for them that rebel against him and so perish And then how shall we think that he should not be gracious to poor Infants who never rebelled against him 3. The Covenant of Grace was never repealed by God for if it be there is now no Covenant at all nor can it be repealed to one Man but it must be repealed to all Men. 'T is true Men may forfeit the Mercy held forth in that Covenant but the Covenant cannot be repealed for then there can be no certainty of any Mercy for Sinners Christ himself may as soon be made Null as this Covenant For what if some Apostatize or do not believe shall this make the Grace of God without effect God forbid When we continually see that Covenant of God's Grace displayed making overtures of kindness to Sinners even to the chief of Sinners what shall we say if any Infant be without a part in that Covenant Is he not then the chief of Sinners It is not then the Sin of Parents that can repeal the Covenant of Grace with respect to Infants 4. No Infants did ever abuse the Grace of the Covenant made with them in Adam

Gen. 3. 15. therefore no Infant was cast out of it Although it is most true that Original Sin is come upon Infants and Death by Sin yet this is as true that Original Sin was not committed against the Covenant of Grace and therefore Infants are not guilty of any Sin committed against the Covenant of Grace and consequently are not deprived of the benefit of it Otherwise if the Sin of Subsequent Parents should make void the Grace of the second Covenant to their Infants as the Sin of Adam made his Posterity guilty of the breach of the first Covenant we may then justly cry out Who then can be saved And therefore was our Saviour the Mediator of the New Testament for the Redemption of the Transgressions that were under the first Testament Heb. 9. 15. Wherefore seeing Infants stand acquitted from the Trespasses against the First Testament and having not sinned against the Grace of the Second Testament they cannot come into the Condemnation of Hellish Torments The Papists themselves as * Witness the Massacre in Ireland Cruel as they sometimes are to the Bodies of Infants yet are more merciful to their Souls than the Presbyterians For they say That Infants shall only suffer the punishment of Loss but not of Torment Whilst the other tells the World Infants of a Span long are yelling in the flames of Hell 5. That all dying Infants or Infants in general are to be accounted Members of the vast Body or Catholick Church of which Christ is the Saviour finally is evident because they are all in a visible state of Salvation And I think no Man will deny the Catholick Church to contain the whole number of the saved I have nothing more to do therefore but to prove all Infants are in a visible state of Salvation which I shall further clear by answering what is objected against their Salvation by Mr. J. B. my present Adversary who saith Page 9. SECT III. I gave you thanks before for some things before granted concerning Infants and I here promise more thanks if you will prove the same of all Infants Answer When I speak of the Right which Infants have to Life by Christ I intend it only of that Right derived to them by the first Edition of the Covenant of Grace Gen. 3. 15. wherein they are equally concern'd and so have the same Right And I hope you will not say that any Infant did forfeit this gracious Right by abusing the Grace of the Covenant And then Mr. B. tells you the Covenant is not vain nor repealed by God nor they cast out of it My Proves are such as these Infants are either all Saved dying such or some of them are Damned But none of them are Damned therefore they are all Saved See more of this anon 2. Our Saviour saith It is not the Will of his Heavenly Father that one of those little ones should perish which is certainly as true of Infants as of any Persons in the World 3. Christ dying for all Infants and they do not sin themselves out of the benefit of his Death Shortly thus God will not Damn any no not one of these little ones Men and Devils cannot Damn them they cannot Damn themselves Ergo Christ's dying for them will save them all See the conclusion of this Treatise SECT IIII. J. B. Pag. 11. The overthrow of both these Generations in the Deluge is a strange Medium to prove the Salvation of all Infants c. Answer I do not say that God's destroying the Infants of those that were called his Sons Gen. 6. as well as the Infants of others was an Evidence of God's saving any of them But this I do say That it was an Evidence that they were all in one State or Predicament And how would you or any Body else prove so much as one Infant in all the Old World was saved eternally better than I shall prove the Salvation of them all And shall we suffer it to enter into our Hearts that they were all Damned When therefore we reade 2 Pet. 2. 5. That God brought the Flood upon the World of the ungodly And Jude ver 7. 't is said of those who suffered the Vengeance of Eternal Fire That they were given over to Fornication and went after strange Flesh may we not perceive some Light which may guide us to believe that God did not plead in such Wrath against the Infant-seed as he did against the Wicked themselves And though it is true God suffered the Infants to die with the wicked Parents yet that is no Argument of God's condemning them to Hell Torments For did not the same God suffer his Servant Sampson to die by the fall of the Theatre among the wicked Philistines And we see the Righteous often taken away by the same common Calamities which have befallen Nations and Cities Let us remember how tender the Lord was of the Infants in Nineveh and it may convince us he was tender to Infants in the Old World And he that made those little ones an Argument to justifie his sparing Nineveh against the murmuring of Jonah would certainly make that an Argument for us to believe That had his Judgments proceeded against that City according to the Prophesie of Jonah yet he would have distinguished between the Innocent and the Nocent in respect to their future State and Condition for it was not the Wickedness of the Infants which cried to Heaven but of the Adult When we consider how hardly Almighty God was drawn to inflict those Judgments upon Mens Bodies though grievous Sinners in the Old World in Sodom Gen. 18. and frequently where we reade of the Execution of his Judgments it may justly seem very strange that Men should think that God can be so easily provoked to damn Infants to Hell Torments for him I say to damn poor Infants in Eternal Fire who was so hardly drawn to Inflict on the Ninevites Children so much as a Temporal Judgment Nay he is unwilling to destroy the very Cattel for Man's Sin Jonah 4. which are only capable of Temporal Punishment And can it become us to think that God will send Millions or any poor dying Babes to Hell And pray what have they done thus highly to stir up his Wrath against them Shew the Cause if you can J. B. To the Text Rom. 5. The Free-gift abounded towards all Men to Justification of Life You answer This all must be restrained to all in Christ But by your favour There is none so out of Christ as they come into the World but God hath provided Mercy for them in Christ John 1. 29. so that here is no restraint of the Justification here spoken of till Men abuse the Mercy of God by sinning against their own Souls Nor can your restriction which I suppose would limit this Free-gift to the Elect only hold agreement with the scope of the place for seeing Mankind or all Men are Personated as well in the second as in the First Adam

And is it not therefore said Gen. 17. 14. That such Men children as were not Circumcised should be cut off from his People because they had broken the Covenant And is it not plain then that these Children were already in Covenant and of the Church else they could not be cut off And yet whether any thing here threatned concern the Eternal State of Infants Shall we think that God would damn them to Hell because their Parents neglected to Circumcise them Or is it like a Covenant of Grace to make such a Ceremony so absolutely necessary to the Salvation of Infants Now seeing Infants were not made Members of the Church much less of Heaven by Circumcision what need we assert the Repeal of their Membership in the Church as it contains the whole People of God but the Repeal of Circumcision is evident and there-withal they are freed from any Obligation to the Duties of Religion unless it can be shewed that God hath appointed the contrary which never yet could be shewed Thus if we give you all the advantage imaginable yet nothing accrues to your Cause from this instance of Circumcision till you can shew Authority from God to Baptize Infants as plain as they had to Circumcise Infants For does not one of your own Way tell us That Circumcision is a fine Historical Argument Mr. Brooks to illustrate a Point well proved before but is not this that wherein you always fail i. e. to prove by plain Scripture what you promised J. B. 11. If the Law of Infant Church-Membership was no part of the Ceremonial or meerly Judicial Law nor yet of the Law of Works how can you say it is Repealed seeing no other Laws are Repealed c. T. G. Whether these words The Law of Infant Church-Membership be a lawful Speech And by what Law will you make it good But not to contend about words if by Law you mean the Covenant of Grace made with lapsed Adam Gen. 3. 15. Then whether we do not assert it to be in force more fully than you do But if you mean any other Covenant save this for the often repetition of it makes it not another Covenant then we say it is your duty to assign or shew that Law or Covenant and we will consider it mean while take notice That for the Repeal of that temporary Order once used to admit Infants to Ceremonies in Religion is shewed and generally granted to be repealed in the Repeal of Circumcision and no Institution or Ceremony since the Repeal ordained for Infants and this is the Point in question Why then go you about to wheedle us with a noise of words of a Law of Infant Church-Membership unrepealed A Law c. unrepealed And whether you or Mr. Baxter either can in the sight of your own Consciences say that you well understand what you say And here I shall advertise the Reader that as the remainder of the Queries we are to reckon with are less specious than these we have examined so let it be remembred That we have granted and do now once more assert that by virtue of the Covenant of Grace made with fallen Adam and all Mankind in him Infants stand in a state of Grace published by God himself to Man so that they are visibly in a state of Salvation nor will God break this Covenant it is unalterable for he is faithful Infants do not transgress against it therefore they stand in this Covenant This Covenant was and is the Church-Covenant n●w confirmed by Christ the faithful Witness of it And by this Covenant Infants are Members of his Vniversal Church his Body that shall be saved In the time of the Law when this Covenant was much Vailed or hid under Shadows Rom. 16. 25 26. God was pleased to admit Infants to sundry of the Carnal Ordinances of the Law but now the Mystery of the Gospel being displayed to all Nations and the Worship of the Gospel being heightned to a very Spiritual Nature God hath not engaged Infants in these Services as he did in the time of the Law Our Adversary thinks otherwise this is our Difference try seriously and judg righteously DIVISION IV. About Infants visible Church-Membership J. B. 1. Is it not clear that there is an Vniversal visible Church and that every one that is a Member of a particular Church is also a Member of the Vniversal And that the Jews Infants were Members of the Vniversal and that this Vniversal is not dissolved Now must not he that will affirm the whole species of Infants are cast out of the Vniversal visible Church prove it well T. G. Whether this Query be not grounded on meer Fancies for though they that are Members of a particular Church are Members of the Universal Church yet dare you say or think that none are Members of the Universal which are not also Members of a particular Church Is not this the Dream with which you are Infatuated to hold the Damnation of all Infants yea of all Persons who are not Members of some particular Church And where do you find that Infants are cast out of the Universal Church if they are not Baptized is the Universal Church no larger than the Number of the Baptized Can you think that the Uncircumcised Infant was cast out of the Universal Church Suppose they were neglected till the 10th 20th or 40th day c. will you imagine them to be the Subjects of the Devil What strange conceits have you of God It 's true the Uncircumcised were cut off from the particular Society of the Jews but did that Society constitute the Universal Church Were none what not an Infant in all the World in a visible state of Salvation except those in that Society Me-thinks Rom. 2. well considered should teach you to think otherwise And what is now become of the Covenant of Grace if Infants be so liable to be cast out of the Universal Church as you suggest But why do you call the Universal Church Visible Is not this a visible Mistake And whether the latter part of this Query be pertinent unless it be against your self For if the removal of Persons whether Infants or others out of a particular Church be no found Argument that they are removed out of the Universal Church then seeing the visible Professors of the Truth in this World are but a part and perhaps no very great part of the Universal Church may not Infants remain in the Universal Church though not incorporated or imbedied with any particular Church practizing the Ordinances of God J. B. 2. Is not that false Doctrine which makes the Children of the Faithful to be in as bad or a worse condition than the Curse Deut. 28. 32 41. doth make the Children of Covenant-breakers to be in c. T. G. Is not this an injurious surmise As if none were blessed in the Fruit of their Body but you whose Infants are Crossed or Sprinkled But who puts Infants out of the whole